Number of people using Facebook reaches 2 billion

Belinda Weber

- Every month, 2 billion users post messages, share photos, disseminate links and argue with estranged family members on Facebook. Each day, more than 175 million people share a Love reaction, and on average, over 800 million people like something on Facebook. Facebook is also funding academic research on extremism, but did not specify how much it's contributing.

Facebook hit the 1 billion usermilestone back in October 2012, so its user base doubled in the past five years. Twitter Inc reported in April monthly active users of 328 million, while Snap Inc's Snapchat had 166 million daily users in the first quarter ended March 31. So the Facebook founder wants to bring more meaning to its almost 2 billion users by shepherding them into online groups that bring together people with common passions, problems and ambitions.

The company also launched onto the USA stock market in 2012 and has begun the development of solar-powered drones that can be used to broadcast internet signal to remote parts of the world.

Facebook said it aims to have 1 billion people involved in "meaningful groups".

In his recent quest to "bring communities together" through Facebook and social media, Mark Zuckerberg laid out his goal in a Chicago speech last week that suggested Americans are in need of something to unify their lives.

Over the past decade, Facebook's mission has been to make the world more open and connected. It'll also react when a user wishes someone happy birthday, or when they create a new group.

The move comes as Facebook faces pressure from smaller rivals such as Nextdoor and Meetup, whose online networks bring together neighbors and people in the same area with shared interests. But with nearly 2 billion Facebook users, that last bit - inclusivity - can be tough.

Zuckerberg is pushing to use Facebook's artificial intelligence algorithm to make the site even better at organizing online communities.

In a post written by product director Mike Nowak and product manager Guillermo Spiller, the company shared some stats on the site's usage. "We saw it coming because they are growing so rapidly".

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